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As an Asian, it’s always easy to observe that adult learners speak English hesitantly. Why it happens? One main reason is culture. We all know that many Asian people are introverted and shy to talk with strangers. And another one is the way how Asian people study English. As a Chinese, we call us mute English learners. We usually focus on study vocabulary and grammar. And we scared to say English. The environment, pronunciation which makes us worry. We have definitely no confidence. It was also my experience which last for several years when I was at college. I eventually changed due to the workplace force. However, through the study of TEFL at ITTT, I conclude three aspects to try to break the culture limits and wrong teaching methods, and build confidence in students in the classroom. The first one is classroom management. At this part, at the beginning of the course, teacher should emphasis some basic disciplines such as no mocking if one cannot answer question or speak with right enunciation. Vise versa, teacher can encourage clap hand no matter whether the student do it right or not. And another one is seating arrangements in the classroom. In my experience, semi-circle seating is good for discussion and teaching. And through the discussion, teacher can encourage students to talk and cultivate confidence in this way. A relax circumstance is key. The second one is teaching contents. Sometimes, students are easily to join in an activity with the help of songs or games at the engage part and build rapport through songs and games, although students maybe feel embarrassed at first time. When students know each other, it’s time they speak confidently. Also, the course contents about life is more easy to talk and the business part makes students practice frequently due to its related to their works. And the frequent practice makes students skilled and confidence in using English. The last key factor is teacher. Both the role of teacher and the teaching skills about correction and pronunciation etc. are important for building confidence. As the ITTT course says, teacher has several roles: manager, organizer, assessor, prompter, participant, tutor, model, monitor. And I think as a prompter, teacher can help students when they get stuck or lose the thread. As a participant, teacher can show how to do so that students can understand the content. As a tutor, teacher can give students individual attention and guide student in details. As a model, teacher can demonstrate how to pronounce, talk, and every parts of life and work when teaching. And if teacher know students’ English level, teacher can arrange the stronger one pair with the weaker one and study together. Meanwhile, as ITTT course says, eye contact, gesture, voice is crucial when teacher teaches in the classroom. It says eye contact can encourage contributions, ensure that students understand what they are supposed to do and what is going on, to indicate that something is correct or incorrect, to check that everyone is participating. And gesture conveys the meaning of language and help students talk in nature way, reduce the need of verbal explanation. Voice, especially the volume and stress helps students understand what teacher’s talking, the real meaning. At some extent, it is much more important that pronunciation. All of them can shape students and build confidence. And all in all, I think a good teacher can make great impacts on students, make them more relax and confidence in classroom. Teacher as a good example can drive students to study with whole heart and efficiency.
